LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- For more than 20 years, Shelley Blandford has owned the Valley Dairy Freeze, a community ice cream shop in Valley Station.
"It is a dream come true," she said. "It's like I go to work every day, and I don't work."
The shop has several picnic tables outside, Blandford said she doesn't lock them down when she closes up. She just has trust in those around her.
"We're here to serve everybody so we just have a lot of faith and trust," she said.
Valley Dairy Freeze
But back in December, her security cameras caught images of what appears to be two people on the property taking one of the picnic tables.
"He literally picked the table up and loaded it on a shopping cart, and you can see the pictures," Blandford said.
In the months that have passed, she's had no luck finding the table. Instead, an empty spot sits at the corner of the store's patio where the table had once been.
"It's just really disheartening," Blandford said.
She took to social media to share her story, and it didn't take long for community members to reach out to try and help. One comment stood out.
It was from Iroquois High School, an offer to have the school's carpentry class build Valley Dairy Freeze a new table.
"We were just floored," Blandford said. "We were like, 'Oh that would be great!'"
Since then, a group of students at Iroquois High School has been working on the table. Now in early March, it is almost ready to be delivered to the dairy freeze.
Valley Dairy Freeze security camera image
"These kids got together and put a product together and donated their time and material and everything and so we try and turn that negative into a positive," said Rick Pickerill, carpentry teacher at Iroquois High School.
Allyson Estrada is one of the seniors who worked on the project.
"It feels amazing, because we know it's for good use," she said. "It's for a good cause."
It won't be long now until that empty spot on the patio is filled by a brand new, donated picnic table.
"These shop kids, the fact that they're learning to build and they could actually do something that they can come over here and see in the community, I think it's just amazing," Blandford said. "So it means a lot."
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